Dear Guilford County Band Director,
I am incredibly pleased and honored to announce the formation of something truly unique to our state. It is likely you have already received an e-mail concerning this group from my associate conductor, Mr. Ben Crotts; however, our original concept has evolved into something much larger and even more exciting than I could have imagined.
The Triad Youth Music System is the umbrella organization for several elite student ensembles, as well as a standard-age drum corps (run by Mr. Lenny Keesee). The student ensembles will be composed of the finest students from high schools in Davidson, Guilford, Forsyth, and Randolph counties.
These ensembles will include woodwind, brass, and percussion ensembles–all stemming from one of our system’s flagships: The Triad Youth Wind Ensemble.
The Wind Ensemble will serve the top 60 wind and percussion instrumentalists in the System, and membership will be determined by audition only.
Auditions will be held during the latter part of every fall semester (mid-late November), and rehearsals and performances will span the entire spring term and summer.
The Wind Ensemble will frequently feature guest soloists and conductors, as well as perform the finest literature our field has to offer.
Some of the most important figures in our field have already offered their support, including ABA Ostwald Award-winning composer John Mackey!!
The benefits of the System are three-fold…
* It is a concept never-before seen in our state, though it is very loosely based on Venezuela’s national music education program, El Sistema.
* It allows us to accept more students, including those that may not place into the Wind Ensemble (they may be invited to participate in one of the smaller ensembles).
* The aforementioned smaller ensembles–aside from offering a setting in which your students may not normally participate–also serve as training grounds for the Wind Ensemble.
Attached to this letter, you will find more elaborate information regarding the Wind Ensemble of the Triad Youth Music System, as well as a sign-up form.
Please read the attachment carefully, as it contains items such as the sign-up form due date and auditions dates!
Thank you in advance for your support of this truly unique organization!! Please forward this to any and all of your colleagues, as I was not able to attain contact information for some of them!!
Sincerely,
Ian C. Passmore
Triad Youth Music System, Co-founder
Triad Youth Wind Ensemble, Principal Conductor
Phone: (336) 688-3181
E-mail: passmoreic@gmail.com
I’ve shared a document with you called “TYMS sign-up form”:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=piDz9Lipxpr3CkYgWmsguIg&inv=johnsa@gcsnc.com&t=3527177945849174950&guest
It’s not an attachment — it’s stored online at Google Docs. To open this document, just click the link above.
